Ken and the art of Chinese cooking

Chopping vegetables and peeling prawns in a hot kitchen in Chicago's Chinatown, the 11-year-old Ken Hom hated cooking, much preferring to have been out playing football with his friends.

"My uncle taught me how to cook and employed me at his restaurant - I hated it at the time and I wanted to get out of there," he says, as he sips a glass of sparkling water and laps up the sun at Palios, at the Westin Dragonara Resort.

As a young boy, though, he never imagined he would one day make a career out of cooking. Today Mr Hom is one of the world's most loved celebrity chefs with 24 cookery books to his name and 26 years of TV programmes beamed around the world.

He started cooking only to earn some extra money to pay his rent, after returning to the University of California from a year of training in France.

"I was studying history of art and I was desperate to pay my rent as a poor student. So I was asked to give a cooking class and it was a big success. This led to more classes and soon it was taking up all my time. I went on to teach at a school for professional chefs and was asked to write a book, which led to television. And I have never looked back," he said.

In Malta on the invitation of Rausi Co. Ltd to promote the latest range of Tao Woks, Mr Hom is happy to share his knowledge and passion for cooking with the Maltese.

Mr Hom is on a mission to eradicate the perception that Chinese food is all about rich, sweet and sour dishes, and he points out that "it's no secret that Chinese cuisine is one of the healthiest in the world".

"Our cuisine, like others, gets bastardised when it travels to places, and the way it's served in restaurants is not like it should be. And of course, the Chinese are pragmatic because they want to do business and they give people what they want."

He insists that Chinese cooking is all about healthy, tasty food, which is quickly prepared, with rice or noodles, roasted, braised, or steamed, something people would not normally order in a restaurant.

The real Chinese diet is based on vegetables, very little meat, lots of fish and seafood. The combination of garlic, ginger, chillies and fresh coriander give it the unique taste.

He explained that the Chinese use very little oil in stir-fries and this was usually drained after cooking meat, with just a bit of water added to continue frying - that's how real Chinese food should be.

"It's when the Chinese start eating the European diet that they start getting heart problems, and get fat and that's one of the big challenges confronting us in the future - the problem of obesity, especially in young children. We all have to go back to our roots."

So what's the secret of cooking with a wok?

"You have to prepare all your ingredients before and your wok has to be very hot, so that you use less oil and it gives the food that barbecued flavour, which is so unique to Chinese cooking," he said.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need a gas hob to optimise the use of your wok. According to Mr Hom the secret is to heat the wok for five minutes before drizzling a bit of oil.

There's a medley of woks to choose from, from wrought iron, stainless steel to non-stick, heavy or light - so what's the best one?

"If it's too heavy it's very difficult to carry and if it's too light it's not going to last a long time. It is really important to have a wok that has enough heaviness and thickness to hold the heat, but not too heavy that you cannot carry it."

The Chinese cook with either peanut oil or any type of vegetable oil. He advises against stir-frying with olive oil, which would only disintegrate with the heat.

During his demonstrations in Malta Mr Hom was bombarded by questions on cooking by people yearning to squeeze out any secret or tip from their guru to improve their cooking.

"The most common problem seemed to be that they were pouring in too much oil. Chinese cook with very little oil and they add water and not more oil - that's where the problem was."

Mr Hom stressed the importance of enjoying food not for the quantity but the quality.

"I try to show people how easy it is to cook good food in a short space of time. People tell me they don't have time to cook - that's nonsense. In my demonstrations I show them how easy it is to cook something from scratch, I always prepare everything in front of people," he said.

All you need is to cook good, healthy Chinese is a good wok, a cleaver to chop up everything and a wooden cutting board. His advice to anyone cooking at home is: First don't panic; cook things you like to eat; buy things that are in season; and don't try to be too ambitious.